


Sex and Consequences

by PlzdontcallmeVal (vlh114)



Category: Barduil - Fandom, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: College AU, Confused Bard, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 20:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10906758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vlh114/pseuds/PlzdontcallmeVal
Summary: Sex replaces commitment for Thranduil when he meets Bard.  When he wants and asks for more their relationship ends.  Until Thranduil disappears and Bard finds out where he is.





	Sex and Consequences

As far as Bard was concerned his life was perfect.  He was passing all his classes, liked his dorm room-mate, made the winter track team and was sure to make the archery team in the spring.  But best of all, he had the most beautiful man on campus, hell, as far as he was concerned, the most beautiful man in the world as his lover; Thranduil.  Their relationship was uncomplicated and mutually satisfying.  They saw each other two or three times a week; after Bard’s Wednesday night class, Friday nights and every other Saturday when Bard was off work.  They met at Thranduil’s apartment in town, had amazing sex, usually with Bard fucking his lover, then Bard would say ‘good-night’ and head back to the dorms.  Yes, nice and uncomplicated.  At least it was until Thranduil took Bard by surprise and asked him for more.  More Bard was not prepared to give and his perfect life crumbled around him.

**

Esgaroth University was unintentionally separated into three classes; the sons of the mountain miners (not so affectionately called ‘dwarves’ behind their backs) who nobody actually expected to graduate and get a job outside the mining industry but nobody discouraged from attending, the sons of the lower-middle class fishermen and laborers who lived by the lake, only some of whom ever went on to graduate and move away from the area, and the upper-class sons of the businessmen who were expected to have more than one major, join multiple sports teams, fraternities and committees then go work for their fathers.

Each class usually kept to their own so Bard was surprised when a beautiful, silver-haired blond sat down next to him in the cafeteria one day.  At first Bard assumed the blond had either lost a bet or had been dared to sit with him.  But after Thranduil had introduced himself and said that it had taken him weeks to work up the courage to approach him Bard decided to relax and hear what the blond had to say.  It seemed that Thranduil had noticed Bard at track practice one afternoon and wanted to ask him out.  Bard thought he had no time for a boyfriend and said so but Thranduil talked Bard into coming over to his apartment that Friday.  That was the night they became lovers.

Having a lover suited Bard just fine.  With classes and a part-time job he figured he had no time to devote to a full-time relationship.  And being from the class of fishermen’s sons he didn’t think highly enough of himself to believe that he’d be Thranduil’s only lover or that their relationship would ever be more than a release of physical desire or last beyond a few months.  Bard would often see Thranduil around campus in the company of someone almost as beautiful as he was which was the main reason Bard thought he was just a passing fling.

Their meetings became regular and Bard often found himself looking forward to the next time they would spend together; a dangerous feeling Bard would push down instead of embrace.  To Bard what they had was perfect.  He had no clue that Thranduil thought differently until one Sunday night he was pulling his pants back on when he heard his lover say “stay”.

“What?” Bard almost tripped as his foot missed going into the pant leg, “You want me to stay the night?”

“Yes.  As in don’t leave or spend the night with me.  I’ll make breakfast in the morning.”

“That’s not our arrangement.”

“I know,” Thranduil’s heart started to beat faster as he realized he had probably just made a big mistake.  “I thought maybe we could make a different kind of arrangement.”

Bard looked around the floor for his shirt.  When he found it he slipped it over his head.  “The kind where I spend the night?”

“Yes.”

“Let me take my clothes back off and I’ll fuck that idea right out of your head.”

“I’m not interested in that right now.”  Thranduil grabbed his robe from the chair next to the bed as he got up.

“Let me wrap my head around this.  You want to go from lovers to boyfriends.”

“Yes.”

“And your other lovers would be okay with that?”

“Other lovers?”

“I never thought we were exclusive.”

Thranduil’s heart cracked, “ _You_ have other lovers?”

“Well, no.  But I always see you around campus with other guys…”

Thranduil’s heartbreak turned into anger, “And you assumed I was sleeping with them.”

“Aren’t you?”

“No.  I am not.  What kind of guy to you think I am?  I’m not the campus slut.”

“No.  No.  I didn’t mean...”   Bard took a deep breath to calm down, “You don’t have other lovers?”

“Clearly your answer to my new arrangement suggestion is ‘no’.  Don’t let me keep you any longer.”  Thranduil held open the apartment door, “Good-bye.”

Bard slipped by as he put on his jacket.  “I guess I won’t see you Wednesday.”

The door being slammed in his face left no doubt as to what Thranduil’s answer was.

**

Over the next two weeks Thranduil seemed to disappear.  Bard didn’t catch sight of him crossing the quad, in the library or the cafeteria.  It was like the tall blond had simply vanished.  Finally his curiosity got the better of him and Bard approached the table in the cafeteria where Thranduil’s friends always sat.  He didn’t need to introduce himself; they knew who he was.  If they were surprised to find him talking to them they didn’t show it.  Bard addressed his question to the attractive blond guy he’d seen most often in Thranduil’s company, “Is Thranduil alright?”

“Why?  Want to break his heart again?” the blond responded.

“Glorfindel!” the red-headed girl next to him exclaimed.

“What?” Glorfindel asked her.  “They’re over.  He has no right to ask.”

“He has every right,” the red-head stood as she talked.  She took Bard’s hand and began to pull him away.

As he was tugged away Bard looked back at the table Thranduil’s friends were sat at but he addressed the red-head, “He’s not alright then?”

She kept silent as she led him to a table across the room.  Once they sat down she introduced herself, “I’m Tauriel.  I’m kind of Thranduil’s sister.”

“Kind of?”

“I live with his family.  I have for a while but we’re not related.”

“It’s nice to meet you.  Now will you tell me where he is?”

Instead of answering Bard’s question she said, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Why?”

“He likes you…or rather _liked_ you.”

“Please, tell me what happened.”

“He was hit by a car.”

“Is he alright?”

“He’s in hospital.  He’s got some broken bones and a bad concussion but the doctor says he’s going to be fine in time.”

“What happened?”

“He was out jogging late one night and a drunk driver jumped a curb and hit him.  He was wearing his earbuds so he probably didn’t hear it coming.”

“Did they get the guy?”

“Yeah.  He hit a tree and passed out.”

“I didn’t read about it in the student news.”

“His parents asked that it be kept out of the press.”

“Oh,” Bard felt nauseated at the news.  Then he thought about the last time he’d seen Thranduil on campus.  “It was a Wednesday night, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“We were usually together on Wednesday nights.  He should’ve been with me.”

“Yes.  I know.”

“I should go see him.”

“He doesn’t want to see you.  He doesn’t want to see anyone.”

“You said he talked about me?”

“Yeah.  He really liked you.  He never intended your relationship to only be physical.  From the first time he saw you he was attracted to you but he thought he wouldn’t stand a chance with you.  He wanted to go out with you, be seen with you.  He thought you were very attractive.”

The fact that Thranduil thought he didn’t stand a chance with Bard stunned him.  But he asked, “If he wanted to go out with me then why didn’t he say so?”

“You told him that you didn’t have time for a boyfriend so he took what he could get.”

“Until he decided he wanted more and I blew it.”

“Yeah.  He decided to take a chance and you shot him down.  It really hurt him.”  Tauriel paused for a moment as she thought about how much information she should reveal she knew.  She hated to see her ‘brother’ sad so she decided to go for it.  “He doesn’t sleep around, you know.”

“I know now.”

“He’s very popular.  He’s on two sports teams, a committee and volunteers in the student center.  If someone asks him for help he never turns them away.”

“I used to see him with people around him all the time.”

“You assumed he had other lovers.  You should’ve asked him.”

“I did but it was too late by then.  I had already opened my big mouth.”

“He’s never had more than one relationship at a time and usually he’s the one who winds up getting dumped because his partner gets jealous of the time he spends helping others.  He hoped you’d be different.”

“I was never jealous of him.  At least, I don’t think I was.”  Bard rubbed his face with his hands, “I don’t know.  Maybe I just convinced myself that someone like him could never be in a serious relationship with someone like me.  I wish I could go back to that night and do it differently.”

“He _really_ liked you.”

“His timing, when he asked…I mean, it really sucked.”  As he watched Tauriel walk away Bard knew he had to set things straight with Thranduil.  In the two weeks they’d been apart Bard had felt like there was a piece of something inside him missing and now that he knew Thranduil was in the hospital the hole turned to an ache.  He wasn’t kidding when he told Tauriel he wished he could go back to the night Thranduil asked him to further their relationship.  He’d say ‘yes’, they’d go back to bed and in the morning he’d help his boyfriend make them both breakfast.  They’d spend the week together and Thranduil would never have been out alone.  But he couldn’t do that.  The only thing he could do was go to the hospital and beg for forgiveness.  He only hoped Thranduil would give him another chance.

***

Hidden behind the largest bouquet of purple chrysanthemums he could afford Bard slowly pushed open the door to Thranduil’s hospital room.  When no shout for him to get out came he peeked around the greenery to see that Thranduil appeared to be sound asleep.  There was an IV pumping clear liquid through a tube in the back of his left hand, his right ankle, in a black foam and plastic splint, was resting on a pillow on top of the blankets that covered his body up to his chest.  Thranduil’s head was wrapped in gauze, and his face was littered with healing gray and yellow bruises.

Bard set the glass vase on the windowsill next to several other impressive arrangements and took a seat in the chair next to the bed.  Once he was comfortable he began to talk, “I miss you.  Or maybe I should start off by saying I’m sorry.  I was such a jerk.  I feel like what happened to you was my fault.  We should’ve been together that night.  I know I blew it with you.  I wish I could go back and say that I’d love to go out with you.  I had convinced myself that what we had didn’t mean anything to you.  So when you asked me to take our relationship to the next level I just spit out what I had been telling myself.  It was easy to believe you _would_ have other lovers.  I mean, look at you.  You’re popular, smart, athletic, rich and gorgeous.  I’m just plain old Bard from Laketown.  I come from nothing.  My parents scrimped and saved every penny they could to send me here and I’m still going to have a pile of student loans when I’m done.  I guess I just didn’t think someone like you could be interested in a real relationship with someone like me.  I met Tauriel.  She seems really nice.  I wish you were awake so I could apologize but if you were awake you probably wouldn’t want to see me.  I’ll leave you alone now.  I hope you feel better soon.  I’ll see you around campus sometime.

As Bard rose from his seat a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist.  “Yes, you are a big jerk but what happened to me was _not_ your fault.”

Once Bard got over the shock of being stopped he sat back down, “You’re awake.”

“You’re very observant.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“So you said.”

“Can you ever forgive me?”

“It might take a little convincing.”

“Winter break is coming up.”

“And?”

“I thought we could spend it together if you want to, if you’re up and about.”

“I will probably need a lot of tlc; breakfast in bed, hot baths, stuff like that.”

“I can do that.”

“On second thought maybe we should take it slow.”

“Why?  Wait, do you mean we shouldn’t have sex?”

“Yeah.  We should get to know each other better first.”

“Okay.  What should I know about you?”

“Well…um…”

“Tauriel told me that you were on two sports teams.”

“I do fencing in the fall and spring track.”

“I do winter track and archery in the spring.  Is there anything you want to know about me?”

When they ran out of mundane things to talk about like their tastes in movies, music and professors Bard asked, “What the hell were you doing out jogging that late?”

“I had a lot of pent up energy I needed to burn off.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“So, how are you really?”

“Concussion, broken ankle, bruised hip, bruised ribs, it could’ve been worse.”

“It sounds pretty bad as it is.”

“He sort of side swiped me.  If he’d hit me straight on he could’ve killed me.”

“Don’t say that.  I couldn’t handle that.”

“Because you think it’s your fault but it isn’t.  It’s _his_ fault.”

“Still…”

“Stop or I’ll ask you to leave.”

“Sorry.”

“Okay.”

“When are you being released?”

“Mom says she likes having me here so she can keep an eye on me so I don’t know.”

“You’re mom?”

“She’s my doctor.”

As if she heard herself being talked about the door opened and Thranduil’s mother walked into the room.  “Hello.  I didn’t know Thranduil had company.  I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Bard stood up to shake the doctor’s hand, “Bard.  It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh.  You’re Bard.”  She eyed her son warily.

“It’s okay, mom.  We’ve made up.”

“Good.  I’m very happy for that.  But Thranduil needs his rest.  You can come back tomorrow.”

“Mom,” Thranduil whined, “It’s early.  I haven’t seen him in two weeks.”

“And I can arrange it so you have no visitors for the duration of your stay here if you keep it up.”

“Sorry.  Can you give us a minute though?”

“Sure.”

When the door closed again Thranduil said, “I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to leave.”

“Can you come back tomorrow?”

“I will after class.”

“Okay.”

Bard took Thranduil’s hand, “I really don’t want to leave.”

“I know but if you don’t I won’t see you again until I get home.”

“Will you have to go to your parents or will you be at your apartment?”

“My apartment I hope.”

“I hope so too.”

The door to the room opened again and Thranduil’s mother stuck her head in, “Time’s up.”

“Okay.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.”

Bard left the hospital with a much lighter heart.  He would make his new relationship work no matter what.  And he realized that his life wasn’t perfect before but it was looking much better now.


End file.
